Among other frightening catastrophes that are happening in the world today, the so-called "obesity epidemic" that Europe and the US is on the brink of, is a worrying one, and it appears that governments are working towards cracking down on fat people. However, there is a growing body of scholars and scientists who discredit claims that this is a killer disease that is spreading exponentially.

BMI now Reduced
The Body Mass Index (BMI), which is the calculation of height squared divided by weight squared, is something that many take to be a truthful indication of "good" and "bad" body types. However in 1997 and 1998 the UK and the US changed their BMI goalposts so that the classification of being overweight was changed from 27 to 25. This meant that millions of people then went from being classified as "normal" to "overweight".

Eric Oliver, Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Chicago, is one of the voicing his opinion that this "epidemic" is pure fiction of behalf of governments and the pharmaceutical industry.

Diet, Exercise and Genetics
He states that obesity-related diseases aren't caused by being overweight, "There are only a few medical conditions that have been shown convincingly to be caused by excess body fat, such as osteoarthritis of weight bearing joints and uterine cancer that comes from higher estrogen levels in heavier women, although this can be treated medically without weight loss. For most medical conditions, it is diet, exercise, and genetics that are the real causes. Weight is merely an associated symptom."

Considering that Americans spend $35 billion per year on diet products, there does appear to be a huge benefit to the food and drug industry at stake. Consider also that the Surgeon General is quoted as saying that the obesity epidemic is "a greater threat than weapons of mass destruction" and make up your own mind.